‘Arrow’: Stephen Amell Comments On Oliver Queen’s Major Decision

Arrow fans were stunned last night when Oliver Queen relinquished his vigilante title and handed the reigns to John Diggle. Prompted by the release of a fake photograph featuring himself dressed as the Emerald Archer – which resulted in unprecedented scrutiny from the FBI – and his sons fear of losing his father to any of the countless villains he encounters, it appears Oliver Queen has permanently retired from life as a masked crimefighter. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Stephen Ammel discussed Oliver’s important decision and whether or not this truly the end of his time as the Green Arrow.

Amell explained that Oliver Queen will not be yearning to return to life as the Emerald Archer:

“I give it to Diggle; I don’t give it to him with a heavy heart, I give it to him with a full heart. I give it to him expecting him to be able to handle it. I like the idea that I give it to him because the city needs a Green Arrow, right? The Green Arrow can be more than one person. The Green Arrow is a symbol and his team is a symbol. The fact that we are pushing Star City in the right direction is something that is important to me because I don’t want the city to get destroyed every year, because then what’s the point of what we’re doing? We’re a team of vigilantes that are the definition of insanity, because we’re just doing things over and over again and hoping for a different result. Obviously I don’t know what’s going on with Diggle, but I give it up and there’s not a lot of angst.”

When asked if he saw Oliver really never donning the suit again, Amell replied:

“No. Look, I remember one season of 24 when Jack Bauer had been taken prisoner, Jack was in China. They’re like, “Well, how long of this season is Jack going to be in China for?” and the producers were like, “He’s landing like six minutes after it starts. The show is the show.” Our show’s the show, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t surprise people. If he suits back up again, it doesn’t mean that all of a sudden it goes back to the status quo.”

Of course, fans are still curious to see if Oliver will still have a role on Team Arrow or if he will leave to the group to their own devices. Amell revealed that while there will be an episode where Oliver’s assistance will be required, it will not be in the same capacity and will certainly not be permanent:

“He’s out. He’s totally out. We have an instance where he has to hop back in, but it’s not in the capacity that people would expect him to. It’s in an episode called “Reversal.” He does have to hop back in, but other than the occasional visit, he’s out.”

Do you think Oliver Queen will rejoin the team and suit up as Green Arrow again? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

Arrow continues next week with the episode titled “Next of Kin.”

A rogue black ops team led by Onyx (guest star Chastity Dotson) breaks into Kord Industries and steals something lethal. Oliver (Stephen Amell) struggles to connect with William (guest star Jack Moore) so he reaches out to a surprising source for help. Kevin Tancharoen directed the episode written by Speed Weed & Oscar Balderrama.

10 Heroes Who Should Get Their Own CW Arrowverse Shows

This past week marked the season finales for the core DC CW shows from the Arrowverse. Legends of Tomorrow ended a little bit earlier than Supergirl,The Flash,and Arrow did, but all of the finales were great. They each successfully concluded the seasons and helped set things in motion for their upcoming seasons of the show. Supergirl teased a potential new villain, while The Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow left us off with cliffhangers that will hopefully be resolved early next year.

While each of the DC CW shows were good, this season of Arrow was great! We here at Heroic Hollywood even gave an argument that this season of Arrow was better than this season of The Flash, due to how great this season for Oliver and the other Star City vigilantes were this year. Not only did the show deliver a compelling storyline, great choreographed action, and probably one of the best villains the CW produced (Prometheus), it also marked the return of Slade Wilson/Deathstroke (arguably the second best villain of Arrow), who has been missing since season two. His return at the end of “Missing” made fans excited for his return. Recently actor Manu Bennett has been campaigning for a Deathstroke spin-off within the Arrowverse. The sometimes good, sometimes bad guy was a great presence earlier in Arrow and the character was one of the highlights of the past seasons. It would be interesting to see his backstory if possible, as well as what happens after he helped Oliver and Team Arrow on Lian Yu.

With that said, there are still plenty of characters who could get their own show within the DC universe. The DC CW universe started with Arrow and has quickly spun off into a wide range of shows, each able to stand on their own, each interconnected as well. Because of this, they have created their own coherent cinematic universe. The CW has been very successful with their DC shows as well. They have almost run out of days of the week to have their shows on, and with such a high volume of characters to work with, there’s a great deal of DC characters who could get their own spin-off shows. Next fall we will see Black Lightning (although it’s stated not to be a part of the Arrowverse… yet), so the sky’s the limit for what they can do. Here are a few ideas for spin-offs for the Arrowverse.